The Debate of Sanctuary Cities

Abogado-Aly-Sanctuary Cities

In a previous blog post, we discussed the fear of deportation and how Mexican citizenship is on the rise as families fear separation due to the government reinforcing immigration laws.

In the United States and Canada, sanctuary cities are determined to reduce fear of deportation through limited cooperation with the national government and its immigration laws. By making the undocumented immigrants feel safe, it gives them more opportunity to report crime, enroll their children in school and opt for health and social services.

The sanctuary policies that more and more cities are adapting prohibit government and city employees from asking an immigrant about their status in the United States. It brings the question to rise if whether or not it’s constitutional for local police and government to enforce immigration laws.

Back in January of 2017, President Donald Trump declared that sanctuary cities would be punished through federal funding being withheld from any city with sanctuary policies. However, a judge in San Francisco blocked that plan stating Trump had exceeded his presidential authority. This judge was not the only one to believe that withholding funding unless a city complies with federal immigration enforcement and laws, believing this is unconstitutional and the President doesn’t have the right to sign such regulations.

There is major debate between sanctuary cities and the rest of the government. Washington made a statement declaring that sanctuary cities put the protection of illegal immigrants above the safety of their citizens. Sanctuary cities prevent their local police and government from sharing criminal immigrants with federal authorities, meaning an illegal immigrant that breaks the law and serves in jail has almost zero risk of deportation inside a sanctuary city.

Many outside of the sanctuary city policies think that even if these cities mean well for illegal immigrants that mean no harm, it places too much protection on the immigrants who are criminals, involved with human trafficking, drugs and the death of abiding American citizens.

Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, supports the restrictions to sanctuary cities and withholding funding for not complying with federal immigration laws. Abbott brings a great point to the forefront of this debate: federal, state or local government all have one primary function – to keep our people safe.

So are sanctuary cities safe? Stay tuned as this debate continues.